Across the Stars
by ShimmeringSand
Summary: Years after Hogwarts Ginny's life is going more or less the way she wants it. And then she runs into Draco, and she's not too sure she's happy to see him. Story's not that orginal, but I'll try to keep it as fresh as possible. r/r! please!! *updated*
1. Rude Awakening

Summary: Ginny's finally moving on with her life. Five years after Hogwarts, she's on her way to becoming a great Auror. But one night she runs into an old acquaintance, and she's not completely sure it's a pleasure.   
  
  
Across the Stars  
Chapter One  
Rude Awakening  
  
  
Ginny's muggle alarm went of at the same time on Thursday morning as it did each Thursday. She opened one eye, grunted, smacked the snooze button, and rolled over. Ten minutes later it went off again. She sighed and pulled off her blanket, shivering as the cold hit her nicely warmed skin. She grunted again, and hit her alarm. She pushed the little button so it was officially off, and pulled herself into the bathroom. She went through her normal morning routine, showered, dried her now fully tamable curly red hair, and dressed for work. Now more awake, she made herself coffee, and heated a danish, and buttered some toast. She peeled a banana and went ahead chewing while the coffee poured. A distant thud on her living room window announced the arrival of the Daily Prophet. She ran to the window, took the paper, tipped the owl and opened it on her Dining Room table. She read through it, frowning at the news while biting her toast and sipping her coffee. For any wizard or witch, it was a normal day. But for Ginny, the day had yet to begun. Ginny's days began with inhuman screaming, and begging and pleading for mercy while evil creatures laugh happily at the pain they've caused, then scream when the time for their own death's came. Her day's ended with a goodnight kiss with the guy of the week, a series of protection charms she set up, and a given nightmare or two.   
  
"GINNY!!" Parvati yelled, her head bobbing in Ginny's fireplace. "You're expected here in ten minutes!! Hurry it up!" And then she was gone. Ginny sighed and downed her coffee. She pulled her hair back into a messy bun, and pulled on her boots.   
  
"Black is so NOT my color..." She muttered to herself as she pulled on her dark cloak. She grabbed her wand and raised it high.   
  
"Ministry Building. Fifth Floor. Harry's Office." Ginny commanded while concentrating. She easily found herself-- her WHOLE self-- in Harry's spacious, comfy office. "Okay, Parvati. I'm here. Let's get this over with." She flashed a smile at her impatient friend and plopped down into a cushy chair.   
  
"Don't be so mundane." Hermione advised. "Ginny, this is something you need to take seriously. At least PRETEND that you worry..."   
  
"Okay, 'Mione..." Ginny put on her best worry face. "But seriously... What is it today? Another Death Eater meeting that we need to bust up?"   
  
"Actually..." Harry and Ron apperated at that very moment. "What we're looking at today would be... Well... Why don't you tell her Ron."  
  
"A trip to the Malfoy Manor..." Ron gave an uneasy smile. "We have good reason to believe that that's where He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is residing."   
  
The friends looked from one to another. Hermione bit her lip. Harry paced, his green eyes filled with worry. Parvati wrung her hands, and Ron just stared at the papers in his hands. Ginny, for once, looked a bit shaken.   
  
"The Malfoy Manor?" She hoped her voice sounded as level as she could get it. Not one of them had gone near there after their last encounter with the Malfoy Manor. It happened back when Hermione was still an actual Auror, and not in the Minister of Magic's inner cabinet. Back in Ginny's second year of Auror Training; which was really her first year as a certified Auror. Back when... Back when Dean, Seamus and countless others were still alive. Back when she and Harry... Well, when the work wasn't as stressful on them all. They had done one raid on the Manor. They had gotten word from Neville that Lucius and some Death Eater's were getting together to try to conjure up more dark things from the giant abyss of endless dark things. They had all gone, and it turned out that Neville, like other before him, had turned. Well, not turned, but was cursed into oblivion to the point where he was Voldemort's sockpuppet. They treaded cautiously into a a perfectly hidden, well laid trap. Twenty others had gone, and only nine had returned. Dean, Seamus, Padma, and Lavender had been a few of the casualties. Neville, too, was later killed.   
  
After that the team broke apart for a while. Harry and Ginny had gone their seperate ways for a while; Ron and Harry went to America to handle things over there, while Ginny went to Russia for a few months. Parvati helped her family get back on track after her sister's death. Hermione went into a major depression, as they all did in their own ways. But she, being the smart and capable woman that she was, pulled herself together quicker. She she had gone and owled everyone she knew, urging them to help her find her friends. Word got out and soon they all came together in one way or another. Nothing had just fallen back into place, bonds that had been broken weren't fixed, but at least the major ones were taken care of. Harry and Ginny never talked of what they had, or what they lost, or whether they were ever going to get it back. And it never bothered either one, really. Hermione and Ron were much closer than ever before, though. Ginny wondered if they were ever going to admit it to everyone else.   
  
"Ginny?" Harry was saying, breaking Ginny from her dark thoughts about the past.   
  
"Huh?" She blinked and looked around at her friends. "Sorry... I uh..."  
  
"It's okay." Harry quickly covered for her. "We know. We ALL know. But I asked you about which approach you wanted to take to penetrate the grounds."   
  
"Well...." Ginny waved her wand over the desk and muttered something. The Malfoy Manor, as she remembered it, came into perfect view on Harry's large desk; all nineteen acres of it. For another hour and a half the group set up a defense plan. Ginny, Parvati and three others were to enter through the south east. That was the general direction most of the Death Eaters came from. Harry, Ron and a few more were going to come in from the northern side, where the more dangerous group came from. Their entire plan depended on whether all the traps were similar to before. Unfortunately they hadn't been near the manor in quite a while. That's why Ginny's heart was pounding in her chest as she and her group approached the gate of the large estate. 


	2. When In Hell... Run.

  
  
  


**Summary:** Ginny's finally moving on with her life. Five years after Hogwarts, she's on her way to becoming a great Auror. But one night she runs into an old acquaintance, and she's not completely sure it's a pleasure.

  


**Disclamer:** Whoops! I didn't have one of these in the first chapter! So here it is!! All the character's you recognize belong to J.K Rowling, Scholastic, and all those other people! I am but a lowly fanfic writer...

  


**A/N:** Ah... Finally got this done! And it's a longer chapter! :) I think most people like those! Thanks to my reviewers (*tears up* I'm so NOT used to getting reviews!!). Thanks to **AnotherAuthor**, **Weasley Pride**, **stormyfire**,** Vie**, **Shawnna**, and **Sandi**. :) :) Thanks!! :) I'm already working on Chapter Three! The more reviews I get the more inspired I am to work! ;) :-p

  


Much Love, 

  
  
  


**Across the Stars**

**Chapter Three**

**When In Hell... Run.**

  
  
  


"Ginny, this readout is seriously not coming through." Nicole bit her lip and toyed with her tracker.

  


Muggle technology was becoming a big part of the Auror's equipment. Magic plus technology (given to them and only them) equaled strength in the Ministry's eyes. To Ginny it equaled a broken piece of scrap metal left on the side of the path. She grabbed the device from Nicole, twisted a few knobs, banged it against a rock, then opened the back and pulled the wires. After five minutes of banging and cursing, it was left on the side of the path.

  


"It's not going to do us one bit of good," Ginny said, looking at Nicole's ruffled expression. "Not with the magic we're dealing with. It's like at Hogwarts, when Muggle electronics didn't work on the grounds."

  


"Then how the hell do we get there?" Parvati asked from the rear. "I'm fearing this, Ginny. I- I can sense that something is going to happen. Be careful up there... I'm watching it all back here, but I can feel something coming up ahead."

  


"Okay." Ginny simply said. She didn't want to hurt Parvati by being cynical about the whole "inner eye" thing.

  


"I zink zat eef we keep 'eading west," Ronnie pointed to her map, "zen we should come upon ze actual manor... We've been on ze grounds for an hour. We are close, no?"

  


"Yes." Ginny agreed. "We're definitely close. I can feel it. Be ready to-" Then she stopped. She held up her hand and the others behind her stopped. She heard the soft crackle of a fire, and the hushed whispering of scared people. Ginny turned and motioned to everyone else to be quiet. They nodded, finally hearing it too. Slowly they all dropped to their stomachs and pressed themselves to the cold, damp ground. Ginny scuttled forward quietly to listen better.

  


"-don't know what they could be up to." One dark heavy voice said.

  


"Do you think that they know of this meeting, my lord?" A smaller voice said.

  


The girl's tensed. Dark Lord? Ginny gulped. She felt Nicole grab her leg, her nails dug into Ginny's ankle. Ginny nodded again, and sent Nicole a fearful look. 'Voldemort' she mouthed. Nicole and the others flinched. She then took a very deep, quiet breath, and peeked over the bushes into the clearing ahead of them. A small campfire was set up. Two men stared into the fire. You-Know-Who's face bobbed in the flames, his already slitted, snakelike eyes were in narrower slits. He was pissed off, that much she could tell.

  


"Of course they know," He hissed. "They know of every move we make." For a moment he looked as if he were ready to explode, then his face contorted into a sort of malicous calm. "But we are far more powerful than them. Harry Potter and his little friends came here once. They barely left with their lives. I wonder how brave they will be the second time around."

  


"Of course, Master. They will not stand up to us." One of them said.

  


"Of course not." Voldemort spit. "But if you stand around and keep contacting me everytime you think you've heard a rustle in the bushes, then they may as well be standing right behind you. You are vulnerable like this. You are almost to the Manor. You are being watched very, very carefully. Draco has his eyes on you, and on everything around you... He will not let them sneak up on you."

  


"Master, you trust Draco?" The second man questioned. "After... after what we discovered?"

  


"Hmmm....?" Voldemort looked weary. "Yes. The boy was misguided. But he is with us now. And tonight he will officially be one of us. I have no doubts that he will make it through the cermony. But enough questions! Come now, you are expected." And with a small flourish of flames and sparks, he dissapeared. The men easily drenched the fire and went on their way. Five minutes after their departure, Ginny finally took a breath.

  


"So Draco isn't a Death Eater yet?" Parvati asked, her voice tiny.

  


"I guess not." Ginny took a few deep breaths.

  


"'e will be tonight..." Ronnie said darkly. "Malfoy." She said quietly. "Bad faith. Poor unfortunate soul..."

  


"No." Ginny said curtly. "He's not poor or unfortunate." She hissed. "This is that cold, heartless, bastard has always wanted. To serve the Dark Lord.We're not here to try to preserve the evil git. We're here to destroy him, his father, and his Lord if we get a chance. Let's go. You heard Him..." She began to move through the bushes once more. "We're close."

  


"How close?" Nicole wondered.

  


"Too close." Parvati muttered. "Way too damn close."

  


Ginny, slipped through the clearing and motioned for the others to follow, and she she went through the next stand of bushes,the manor suddenly popped into view, as if it had been hidden. ::Maybe it was,:: she thought. She and the rest of the girls were crouched behind some bushes at the top of a hill. Ginny remembered this part. The manor rested in a bowl sort of area in the middle of the estate, and it was surrounded by steep hills. Around the outside, an intricate hedge maze started twenty yards from the outside, and twisted in until it was flush against a cobblestone path that took you inside. Around the edges and on the high walls of the maze were topiaries. Not ordinary ones either, these were ones of horrible monsters that snapped and spit and grabbed at you every moment you turned a corner. Ginny now saw the two men that had been ahead of them heading for the maze. She paused, tense to see what sort of curses now lay ahead of them. As the two men approached two miniature trolls (miniature meaning half the size of an a full grown troll, but a few feet taller than a full grown man) stepped out in front of them and held their spears up threateningly. The men simply stepped forward and lifted their arms, exposing their Dark Marks. The trolls nodded and let them by, but still growled fiercely as they passed.

  


"How do we get past zat?" Ronnie asked. This was her first time at the Malfoy Manor, but she was being more brave and much fiercer than Ginny had been her first time there. Ginny bit her lip for a moment. This was a new bit of protection, the maze wasn't new, but she was sure that the twists and turns were.

  


"Okay. Girls," Ginny turned to the rest of them. "Nicole, keep a lookout in the back. Ronnie keep a lookout to the sides, and Allison," she addressed the whispy blonde (who sadly reminded her of Lavender Brown in every possible way), "You watch us, and when I give you the signal, get them down the hill. Okay?" She nodded and Ginny turned to Parvati. "Keep your wand close, pull your hood far over your face and follow my lead. Parvati nodded and pulled her hood over her head until her face could barely be seen. Ginny did the same, hoping that her flaming hair was tucked in all the way. "Okay." She hissed to Parvati. "Let's do it."

  


Hearts pounding loudly, both girls walked calmly down the hill. At least they were calm until they began to approach the gate, at that point Parvati began to shake.

  


"No." Ginny said. "Act like you practically own the place." Ginny advised. "It'll be okay. I have a plan," she reassured her friend. ::I hope this works,:: she added to herself desperately. They reached the maze and the trolls stepped out in front of them. Ginny, who happened to be a lefty, raised her right hand, and in a quick motion, ducked (pulling Parvati with her of course,) as the trolls swung their spears stupidly. As she hit the ground she rolled over yelled "STUPEFY!!" pointing her wand up at the troll. Parvati followed in suit, bringing the other troll down. They both rolled out of the way as the giant, shrub-made, monsters swayed, then fell forward. A few minutes later, when Ginny finally found a pulse (on herself, not the troll) and Parvati had stopped cursing, the girls joined them.

  


"Good work you two," Nicole said, not taking her eyes off the green, leafy beast.

  


"Not the time," Ginny advised. "We have to get through this thing as fast as we can. Draco's probably running to daddy right as we speak. And I'm sure those other two must have seen this thing go down." She said, moving quickly through the shrubs. From watching above she had tried to remember a way of getting through. After a few wrong turns and dead ends, plus taking about five more little evil, snapping topiary bunnies down, they finally hit the cobblestone path.

  


"Now what?" Allison wondered. "Do we just ring the doorbell?"

  


"Oh yes, Ally," Parvati suggest, her voice dripping sarcasm, "you can go ring the doorbell. I'd prefer if we took the basement in."

  


"Uh. No." Ginny said. "But I do suggest we move quickly. I'm pretty sure there were more Death Eaters behind us, and if there were then they're definitely going to come across dim and dimmer that we knocked out and they're going to get through this thing and Avada Kedavra us the moment they see us here."

  


"Yes." Ronnie agreed. "Zat ees why I suggest we go zis way." She pointed to the left.

  


"Why not ZAT way?" Parvati snapped.

  


"Because eef you go zat way," Ronnie ignored her mocking, "zen you will be at ze front door, and you will be able to talk to Voldemort eemself."

  


Ginny wanted to laugh at the calm, composed way Ronnie could have managed to say that (and that impressive way that it shut Parvati up), but she knew it wasn't the moment to laugh. "This way," she said and began to walk in the direction Ronnie had pointed out. "I'm in no mood to chat with Volde- AHHHHHHH!!!!!" Ginny and the girls began to scream quitly loudly as the ground on the stone path dropped from beneath them and they were suddenly falling downwards.

  
  


**~*~**~**~*~**~**~***

  
  


"OOF!!" Someone yelled.   


"OUCH!" Someone else shrieked.

  


"MON OEIL!!!" That was definitely Ronnie.

  


"Ginny, your hair is in my face!" Someone said quite calmly.

  


"What am I supposed to do about it!" her voice was muffled. "I'm facedown in a pile of white satin sheets and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to murder whoever decided to wear the spiky boots, because they're poking into my arse at the moment!!"

  


After a few minutes of screaming insults about hair, eyes, and other body parts the girls managed to untangle themselves from the large laundry bin.

  


"Hey. Draco uses _Rush_." Allison pointed out. "Well, either Draco or Lucius." She shuddered.

  


"Or Voldemort. But I doubt that." Parvati nearly giggled.

  


"Ooookay." Ginny tried to get back on track. "We're inside." She pointed out.

  


"What luck..." Ronnie muttered sarcastically, her eye was a shade of pink, and tearing up fast.

  


"I don't trust this luck." Ginny said darkly. _The last time I trusted something I thought was lucky I ended up in the damn Chamber of Secrets,_ she thought angrily.   


"So we go..." Ginny looked at Ronnie. "Do you know?"

  


She shrugged and said, "Je ne sais pas!"

  


"Hmm..." Ginny looked around the cold stone room and shivered. It was a vast, but dark, dank room lit only by some distant unknown lightsource. And, as Allision had pointed out, someone in the household wore Rush, therefore the entire room reeked of the cologne. "Let's go that way..." Ginny pointed towards what she hoped was a door behind large piles of sheets and rugs and clothes.

  


The girls made their way around the sheets, complaining, and pinching their noses at the stench. Then suddenly they heard a distant scream, but it was coming from behind them, and it sounded like the guys.

  


"Wait!" Ginny said, running a seperate way. Another chute emptied out onto the cold stone floor. A lightbulb went on in Ginny's head and she quickly pointed her wand at the floor and conjured up a net. One at a time the boys fell onto her net, and it quickly dropped them onto the stone floor. Harry and her brother were the last ones. The other girls had ran after Ginny when she took off, and were now standing behind her trying to stifle nervous giggles. The boys looked funny as they tried to straighten up, but in the back of their minds they were all wondering who was behind this.

  


"Hey, Ginny." Harry said rather sheepishly. "Nice seeing you here. Did the sidewalk drop you all too?"

  


"Yes." She said darkly. "We were just heading that way." She pointed towards the dark spot where they had been heading before.

  


"Oh..." Harry rubbed a hand over his forehead, "Good. Let's keep going that way. Then we'll split off."

  


"Sounds fine to me." She turned to her girls. "Nicole, you and Ronnie go one way when we split off, Allison and Parvati go another way..." That left her alone, she realized. _Fine, a better way to get the job done._

  


"Looks like it's you and me, then Ginny?" Harry gave her a gentle smile. "Ron is gonna be with Derek, and Sydney is gonna be with Gregory."

  


_Oh. This is a an even better way to do things._ Ginny thought happily. "Okay. Sounds good to me." She said calmly. "But we have to find a way out of there first..." As she said this the lights around them grew a little brighter. "Okay. Now we can see much better." She looked at Harry and shook her hea slightly. He nodded in agreement.

  


"This is all too much luck." He said darkly.

  


"We've already had that discussion," Allision pointed out. "We know."

  


"Can we just NOT stand around here, and can we please go somewhere?" Parvati asked irritably.

  


"Good point." Ginny said and began to make her way back towards the door, her girls following, and Harry, Ron and the guys following them. When they reached the corner, they did indeed find a door. It led to a large vestibule with twelve doors. One of them was a bathroom. Ten of them others led to large hallways, and one of them led upstairs.

  


"Okay." Harry took a deep breath and rubbed his scar again. Ginny looked at it for a moment, and as Harry began to speak she saw that small green flashes were going through it. It was nearly glowing, really. "... Ginny and I will go this way." Harry continued as Ginny snapped back to attention. "Be careful you all, and don't do anything," he looked pointedly at Ron as he said this, "stupid or sacrificial." Ginny couldn't help but smile inwardly. Harry and Ron were practically brothers, and Ron had-- on numerous occasions since their first year at Hogwarts-- nearly sacrificed himself to Voldemort, or on their way during some dangerous mission all for Harry's safety. Harry didn't feel that he was important enough for anyone to put their lives up for him, but he obviously was if everyone, including his own mother, had already done so. "Go." Harry said teresly, and taking Ginny's arm pulled her through one of the doors. 

  


"Your scar is hurting," said Ginny quietly, "a lot."

  


"Can you tell?" Harry looked down with some intrigue.

  


"Yes," she admitted, looking around at the doors, "I was watching it. It flashed green for a moment. Does that mean that... Voldemort is close."

  


"He's here." Harry said.

  


"I know. But he's close?" Ginny said.   


"Very much so." Harry looked at the cieling above. "And he knows I'm here by now."

  


"How do you know?" Ginny jumped back from a door as it swung open to hit her. An enchanted door, she realized as she stepped around it. Inside was a dark room that looked like a small chamber.

  


"Because." Harry said nervously, pushing his unruly hair out of his face. "He's got my blood in him." This didn't strike Ginny as surprising. She already knew the full story about how Voldemort came back in power. Harry had told her during his fifth year. "He knows when I'm close, just as I know when he is, because I have a little of him in me." Harry rubbed his scar once more, at this point, in the dimly lit hallway, his scar WAS glowing a bright, iridescent green. "Of course," he added with a little laugh, "I'm sure it's not as painful for him as it is me."

  


"I'm pretty sure the pain is just a reflection of his winning personality." Ginny suggested jokingly, sidestepping yet another enchanted door. It struck her as odd that she and he could have such a calm, normal conversation when they were in the middle of such a stressful situation.

  


"I don't think there's anything here that's important," announced Harry, when they reached the end of the hall "Do you?"

  


"No." Ginny looked at the door ahead of them in interest. "Of course, the door at the end of the hall IS one of the most important..."

  


"Is it?" Harry wondered.

  


"It's what Fred and George always used to say at Hogwarts when they found new hallways." Ginny shrugged, approaching the dark, oak door.

  


Harry chortled, "Open it then." He raised his wand as did Ginny. She stepped up to it, her hand shaking as it approached the knob. She took it in her hand, it was ice cold, and she turned it and pulled it open quickly, preparing to stun anything that had lerked behind it. But it was only a well lit staircase.

  


"Up we go?" Harry whispered.

  


"I suppose so." Ginny said, going through just as Harry was saying, "Would you prefer that I go through fir... oh nevermind." He said stepping through. He grabbed his forehead as a bright flash when through his scar. Ginny turned back and saw it glowing brightly now. She looked around them and above them quickly. The stairs opened up to a brightly lit room, she realized, and looking down at her with great malice and contempt was Lucius Malfoy.

  


"It's about time," he sneered, and then to his Death Eaters, "I want each and every one of them caught. Bring the girl and Potter to me, now." And then he stepped back.

  


"Harry," she whispered, he was already looking up and nodding at her as well, he took her hand in his and said, quietly but urgently, "Run, Ginny." They turned the way they came from and bolted down the hall, but at the end already stood many Death Eaters.

  


"One of these rooms!" Harry said, pulling a door open. He pulled Ginny in with him and closed the door, locking it as he went. "Lumos!" They both said, illuminating the room in a green and blue light. There was another door at the other end of the room. "Either that way or we can try to take them out." Harry said, pulling her across the room. She ignored the fact that an Iron Maiden was sitting not too far away against a wall.

  


_The evil that we do know, versus the one that we don't know as well,_ she thought quickly, _I'll take the one I don't know as well any day._ She and Harry quickly pulled the other door open and came to another dark hallway. Ginny used a Tri-Locking Charm that she knew and locked the door behind them. Then she and Harry took off down the new hallway. They came to another door at the end.

  


"Another staircase!" Harry sighed as he opened the door. At the other end of the hallway the door banged loudly. Harry cursed. "Let's go." He said tersely. They sprinted up the stairs, taking them two at a time, Ginny stayed behind only for a moment to do the triple locking charm and then followed Harry quickly, only he had paused at the top of these stairs, croucing low, and as Ginny came up behind him, she knew why.

  


Voldemort, she knew his evil, scarred face by now, and she could just barely see him surrounded by a crowd, his attention not on them directly, but she had a feeling that if she and Harry ran through the hall someone would catch site of them.

  


"Here..." Harry pulled something from his robes. "Pull this over yourself too," he instructed in a voiceless whisper. She nodded and did so and the two crept past the door to the room that Voldemort and the Death Eaters were in. As they went along she heard his hoarse, airy voice saying something that chilled her blood.

  


"Two have been caught, but not Potter or the girl. I want both of them, and I want them now!" He bellowed to some poor underling. There was a small, squeaky voice talking and then another loud shout. "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO WITH THEM!!! KILL THEM! ALL OF THEM!!! JUST BRING ME POTTER AND THE RED-HEADED GIRL!!!!" Ginny could feel the vibrations from his voice on the floor all the way down the hall as she and Harry scurried up the stairs, narrowly passing Narcissa Malfoy and some other person who was definitely a lady by her voice.

  


"What do we do now?" She asked breathlessly, when they reached the top of the stairs.

  


"We get the others out of here as fast as we can, and while doing that see if we can cause some trouble for Voldemort."

  


"Sounds good to me." Ginny said. They shutup as Harry pushed Ginny against a wall. Lucius and a man Ginny new only by the name of Zabini, walked by and went down the stairs.

  


"Oh." Harry suggested. "And don't die, either."

  


"I can do that." Ginny smiled up at him nervously.

  


"Good." Harry smiled. "I think the coast is clear. Let's go-- No-- this way," he hissed as he pulled her down the hall. They silently approached a small band of three Death Eaters as they stalked down the hallway.

  


"We've already caught a few," one person said in a gruff voice.

  


"Yes, but we must catch the rest. If we don't there will be consequences," another one, this time a woman, advised.

  


"There are always consequences," said another man darkly. 

  


"What is he doing with the others," asked the man with the gruff voice.

  


"What do you think?" The other man sounded more tense. Ginny realized that Harry was pulling on her arm. He motioned for them to follow the small group.

  


"I think that we should use Veritaserum," the woman said.

  


"They probably don't know where Potter and the girl are." Gruff Voice. "They're probably as clueless and as desperate as we are."

  


"We aren't desperate. We'll get Potter and that silly girl as soon as we have the others," the lady said. They began to descend down a long spiral staircase that was at the end of yet another long hall. Harry did a spell at silenced their footsteps behind them. And then they suddenly found themselves in what had to be a drawing room. Ginny knew what a drawing room looked like She had read enough magazines, and dreamt about enough mansions to have a pretty good one in her head. This one, however, was not one that she would want. The floor was lifted and beneath, she realized, was what must have been a dungeon, or a torture room. Stone stairs led down to them, and Ginny could just sense the darkness eminating from it. But that's not where everyone was gathered. They were gathered near the fireplace at the other end of the large room. Ginny could just barely see through the crowd, and what she saw chilled her.

  


"I... I'm not... I'm not telling...." Allision was saying, her voice dry, but strong. She was down on her knees, her hands bound behind her back. She was definitely being held up by magical forces, because her injuries seemed too much for even her to be up straight the way she was. Also the way she was hanging seemed unnatural, as if she was resting against an invisible wall or pillow. Allison had bright red gashes down her cheeks and neck, her robes were bloody around her middle, and in Ginny saw a flash of silver and red, a dagger covered in blood.

  


"Don't be foolish," Lucius said menacingly, "you'll gain nothing from your silence. But talk, and you may be rewarded."

  


"I'd rather die." Allison held her head up defiantly, and then even had the tenacity to spit at him and curse.

  


"Silly, stupid girl-" Lucius began, but was cut off by an even more sinister voice.

  


"Lucius," Voldemort wheezed, "you've shown me that you are an expert at torturing with those puny devices, but I want to see you put your powers to use here. Make her scream in agony, and make her regret her decision to oppose me and become an auror."

  


Lucius's eyes flashed, but he inclined his upper torso and said, "Yes, Master." And dropped his weapons. Instead he pulled out his wand. "Allision," he said her name in a way that made Ginny's skin crawl. It was the kind of way some creepy guy on a street corner would make her feel. "Are you still brave, little girl?" Lucius looked downright bloodthirsty at that moment.

  


Suddenly Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her so close, and into such a tight hold that she couldn't breath. At first she thought that he was giving her some sort of hug, and she was about to push him away, but that was when the screams started. Ginny managed to peek out from under Harry's arm, and she saw something that made her gut wrench. Allison was screaming because she was under the Cruciatus Curse. Ginny wanted to join in her screaming so badly, she yearned to run in there and finish Lucius off, but to do that would not only kill her, it would be the end of Allison, and probably Harry. Instead, Ginny watched Allison, pretty Allison, as the magic holding her up gave way, and she fell forward, her body writhing in pain. After what seemed like ages, Lucius finished off the spell. Allison wasn't dead, Ginny realized, as the silence settled over the room. That was her raspy, rattling breathing, it was harsh, but it was breathing.

  


"Not quite dead yet, is she, Lucius?" Voldemort asked.

  


Lucius shook his bowed head and turned back to the girl before him. "Shall I finish her off, master?"

  


"No," Voldemort mused, "not yet." He stood, and moved away from the group, and closer to Harry and Ginny. "Make her suffer a litte more, then kill her off. She's of no use, and according to the Truth Curse, she knew nothing of Harry Potter or anyone else. Neither did the boy. I am going to attend the others, and demand to know why that little band of mudbloods haven't been captured yet."

  


Ginny froze upon hearing the words boy. Boy? Had that boy been Ron? Had they gotten hold of Ron already? As she clung to Harry (who was moving her across the room and out of Voldemort's way) she prayed dearly that it wasn't so, and tried not to think of what she would do if she found out it was Ron. Instead she turned her attention back to Allison. She was back to her knees, though her head was hanging to the side slightly.

  


"Don't look, Ginny," Harry said in a voiceless whisper that she hoped no one could hear. They were on the other side of the room, but still, who knew. Ginny nodded, and buried her head in Harry's chest, her eyes were shut tightly, but that didn't keep the screaming from her ears. She tried to block it out, and instead tried to remember happy, pretty laughing Allison. Tried to remember what her friend had looked like back in Russia, where they had first met. They had met when she had entered the Russian Ministry of Magic. Allison had been the only other person from England there, and had greeted her with a sweet little hug. She looked like a rich, well fashioned young woman, and turned out to be just that and more. As the screams got louder, and the laughing of the Death Eaters more malign, Ginny focused on Allison more. She thought about what she looked like only hours before when they were preparing. She tried to remember her beautiful, willowy friend with her strong, fierce blue eyes, and her gentle, but sometimes self-mocking laughs. She remembered her bold attitude, and the fact that she was the only one who had shared her passion for the danger that came with their job. She also remembered the fact that Allison was in love, and engaged, but that thought made her hold onto Harry tighter as tears threatened to spill. And then there was silence, just ringing silence, as Allison's nearly limp, nearly dead, body dropped to the floor with a sickening crack and thud.

  


"Finish her off, Lucius..."

  


"Kill her." They said.

  


"Make her suffer." Some laughed.

  


Ginny moved her head so that she could see, though part of her didn't even want to know. Lucius raised his wand, a smile on his face. Someone else had their wand up, and was holding Allison in the air again. She had an eerie smile on her face, and her blue eyes were just as fierce as ever.

  


"Any last word's, Allison?" Lucius asked.   


"Yes," her voice was raw, but still, it was strong, "I hope you go to hell, Lucius," she spat, "I hope that you suffer an eternity with your kind of people." Her words were spat, and punctuated and when she was done, a brave, beautiful smile flashed across her face one last time, and for an eerie moment, she turned her head, so that she was looking straight at Ginny, and it was almost as if their eyes locked. Ice blue met chocolate brown and it was as if a silent good-bye was passed between then. Then the moment passsed, her attention was back to Lucius.   


"_Avada Kedavra_" He hissed, and Harry held Ginny tighter, and she looked away.

  


"Come on..." He pulled her away from the room, still holding onto her tightly. 

"You don't need to see that, and we have work to do..."

  
  


**~*~**~**~*~**~**~***

  
  


"Here's goes nothing..." Harry smiled at Ginny. She smiled back. Both were smiles of bravery tinged with a fear that would settle in later. Harry looked out from the tiny space in which they were trapped. As before, their mission had gone so horribly wrong. Harry, Ron, Nicole, and Ginny had been stuck. The others had either retreated into the woods, only to be chopped up by some hex, or stayed and fought to their untimely deaths. Parvati was one who had fought bravely. Ginny blinked away the memory of her fellow Auror, and friend suffering from the various curses, and finally the Killing Curse. "Ready?" Harry asked.

  


"Not really..." Ginny's heart was pounding again. Adrenaline was pulsing through her veins. "But let's do it."

  


"You know where you have to go, right?"

  


"Yea..." She replied.

  


"Then go." Harry adjusted his glasses on his knows and pulled his black hood over his head.

  


"But-" Ginny wanted a moment more.

  


"_Now!_" He hissed. She flew from the tiny space closet underneath the stairs. Some part of her noted the irony of Harry being trapped in a closet underneath the stairs. He had kept the invisibility cloak. Not for his own safety, but because he had a harder mission ahead of him. He had to get Ron and Nicole out. Harry and Ginny had sat in the closet for over an hour, shivering under the cloak, arguing about Ginny going with Harry or not. In the end he had decided no, and no arguments. Ginny consented, only because some small part of her was screaming insanely to be out of the house, and miles away from the horrible place. And now, she was making her escape. Only... Death Eaters! They were at the bottom of the staircase, she could see their shadows snaking along the walls. She shivered and turned towards the hall, hoping to find some servant's exit. She pulled out her wand to silence her footsteps along the marble corridors. Unfortunately....

  


"GIRL!! LUCIUS YOU OLD SIMPELTON," a picture of an old, gnarled man screamed, "THERE'S A GIRL UP HERE!! RED HAIR AND EVERYTHING!! STOP HER!"

  


Ginny took a moment set the painting on fire before zooming down the hall. She could hear the footsteps coming down the halls. The confused shouts of men, and women filled her ears, along with one loud shout that froze her blood.

  


"Bring me the girl!" There was no doubting that evil, raspy voice. "And look for the BOY! Potter and Weasley!! They must be here as well!!" There was a pause. "RED HAIR YOU SAY? Ahh..." Ginny froze for a moment and the pictures around her, women mostly-- some who definitely HAD to be Veela. They stared at her pityingly, and some urged her to be silent. A little blonde boy pointed down the hall and nodded. Ginny understood and began to run in that direction. Catching a quick glance out of a window, she could tell she was high up.

  


"Damn!" She cried, her voice a tiny whisper. "Damn it all..." She quickly went through her mind, trying to think of a charm that could slow her decent out of the window, but nothing came to mind, and even then, Lucious and Draco knew the woods far better than she. Ginny simply continued to run.

  


"In here, NOW!" A voice said and in a flash she was in a room, staring at a face that she wasn't sure she was happy to see. He slammed her back against a wall and was looking out the door.

  


"_You?_" Ginny got over her shock rather quickly and realized that Draco was pure evil now. "NO!" She struggled to get away from his body that had her pushed back, but he was twice her size, and had more muslce than she could ever hope for. He shut the door and locked it, looking at her calmly. He reached into his robes, and Ginny looked away, wincing, and waiting for her death, cursing at him all the while.

  


"Shutup for a moment and take this," he hissed forced a cloak into her arms. "Go into my bathroom, and hide. I'll handle things..." There came a knock on the chamber doors. "GO!" He hissed. She looked confused for a moment, but that moment passed quickly and she sprinted for the the bathroom. She threw the door open, stumbled in and closed the door. Moment's later she heard the main chamber door opening.

  


"Draco! She's here!" One voice said.

  


"That girl!" Another one shouted.

  


"Did she come down here? Were you even watching?" A stronger voice demanded.

  


Voices and questions filled the room. Ginny stayed quiet and looked at the cloak he had thrown to her. ::Why this?:: she wondered as she held the deep blue cloth that was outlined in silver embroidery. Either way she threw it over herself, and sat down on the hard tile floor.

  


"Draco..." That voice... Voldemort... so close. Ginny felt her heart pounding harder. "Draco... I _feel_ her presence. Do not lie to me..." She heard footsteps, slow, purposeful footsteps, come closer. She placed a hand over her mouth and backed up against the black marble steps of Draco's enormous bath. Ginny held back a whimper as she caught a glance of herself in a mirror. _It's an invisibility cloak..._ she thought in amazement. The only thing visible at the moment were Ginny's face and feet.

  


"I assure you master, she is not in there. But you are very welcome to search." Ginny heard Draco say easily.

  


Ginny pulled the rest of the cloak over herself quickly. She stole one last look in the mirror. She was fully invisible, and just in time. She watched in horror as the handle turned, and the door opened. Voldemort now stood only a room's length away. 

  
  
  


**A/N:** Ooh... a sort of cliffie, I guess. :-D Chapter Three is definitely near finished. I have to go back and polish some things and do a little bit more reading to brush up. But if you review faster, I'll write faster! ;) Okay, sooo sorry to those who read this and it only came out part way... I'm not sure if that was my fault or ff.net's fault. Either way, I hope this works, and I hope this shows up!! Thank you to my reviewers! :) Much love, *~Shimmering~*


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